The weather was warm and the snow artificial, but Christmas
2015 was full of memorable surprises and delcious foods. Click
HERE to see photos from Christmas 2014 in
Paris.

Above: Cake decorating while watching Bewitched box
set, the local Christmas market and George as Herod

We stayed for two weeks in the Gers area of France, enjoying
festive decorations and a variety of cheese.

Our first stop was Agen, home of the famously luscious
prunes.

We stayed in a rennovated 13th century chapel and visited
the farmers' market in Fleurance on our first day.

The grand staircase in Auch was one of our bingo card
sights.

This is D'Artagnan country and the cathedral is famous for
its carved wooden choir stalls.

Above: more Auch, Fontaine Diane in Lectoure, and
photographing shadows with my scarfLectoure was our nearest town and has an amazing, huge
antiques market. We also found some disturbing Little Red Ridinghood mannequins
in the park.

We bought our black truffle at a butcher shop in Condom. I
wonder how long you have to live here to get used to this town's name.

La Romieu, home of Collégiale St. Pierre and the
legendary Angeline and her cats

Back home, Nick prepares carrots for the soup
stock.

The doorway of the Moissac cathedral is described in The
Name of the Rose. I liked the selection of possible Chrismtas Day additions
to the crèche.

Montauban merited return visits, not least because it has an
Eden Park store. We bought vanilla pods at a gourmet shop.

It was in Montauban where I saw my first
Space Invader!
We saw lots more last Christmas in Paris.

Montauban and scrambled eggs with black truffle

We saw some enchanting cartoon characters come to life in
Fleurance, as well as a wonderful market, including a British ex-pat
stall.

Some of my favourite artwork, including a fantasy painting
by Goya with floating livestock.

The baker in Agen provided us with a tasty lunchtime
panino.

Sunrise over Lectoure and moon over
Larressingle.

We went to Toulouse to see Giselle and enjoyed the
Christmas market.

We discovered a posh restaurant, an album I had as a child,
and some wonderful Art Nouveau buildings. Click
HERE to see some of
Budapest's Art Nouveau.

The warm weather let us play Labyrinth outside in shorts.
The Ronde des Crèches gave us a focus for our days out and some were
enchanting and very elaborate. Opening presents on Christmas Day.

Return visits to Condom and Auch

The museum in Auch had some important Mexican art - some of
the first Christian imagery from that part of the world, and rendered, our
guidebook said, in feathers.

We heard a brother and sister cello duo on Mirande, where
the warm weather caused this man to shed layer after layer of clothing. This is
how we left him.

The new Star Wars film had just been released, and we
wanted to see it, but there were no showings in English, so we waited until we
got home.

The Pyrenees in the distance speak of holidays yet to
come.

Lectoure

The Ingres Museum in Montauban was well worth the visit.

We drove a long way to visit Bruniquel and Penne at sunset.

The Best restaurant we found was the Auberge des Bouviers in
Lectoure. I would definitely go back!

Albi was home to Toulouse-Lautrec, and it was thrilling to
see all those iconic posters close-up.

The cathedrail in Albi was beautifully decorated, with
prominent scenes of afterlife for the naughty.

We only had a single hotplate to cook on for two weeks, but
we managed meals such as brioche French toast and pasta with truffles. The
smoking Don Quixote windmill was our favourite from the Ronde des
Crèches